The national mapping agency in Mozambique is Direcçà o Nacional de GeografÃa e Cadastro (DINAGECA). It is responsible for topographic and cadastral mapping of the country and has inherited a mapping infrastructure established in the colonial era prior to Mozambique’s independence in 1975. Colonial mapping was carried out under Portuguese administration with large-sheet series published at 1:250,000 and at 1:500,000 scales. 1:50,000 scale mapping started in 1958, based upon new surveys and published as quarter-degree quadrangles on the UTM projection, Clarke 1866 ellipsoid. Progress on this and other mapping projects had been intermittent until the end of civil war in 1992. Surveying for this series was completed for the whole country by 1995 and about 85 percent of the 1,207 sheets required for complete coverage had been published by 1997. A French aid program is being used to revise parts of this map, using LANDSAT and SPOT imagery, but most sheets in this series were prepared by photogrammetry prior to independence and are still only available as ozalid prints. New photogrammetric mapping on the UTM projection at 1:250,000 was started in 1967, and all the maps in this 102 sheet series were revised in 1987-88.
Smaller scale mapping is also compiled. A new 1:500,000 scale map in 23 sheets was started in 1988 and 1:1,000,000 topographic coverage is also published by DINAGECA. Single-sheet road, administrative, relief and population distribution maps are issued, and an A4 (210 mm X 296 mm) format series of 1:2,000,000 scale province maps was released in 1997. Amongst its other work DINAGECA compiles urban mapping including two-sheet full-color 1:15,000 coverage of Maputo, with 1:10,000 coverage in progress for other towns. A 1:50,000 land cover map of the southern parts of the country has also been started.
Soviet military topographic mapping of Mozambique is available at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (8 sheets, complete coverage, published in 1985); 1:500,000 (25 sheets, complete coverage, published 1983-1985); 1:200,000 (147 sheets, complete coverage, published 1981-1984) and a city (1:10,000) topographic map of Maputo published in 1982. These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.
The hydrographic agency in Mozambique is Instituto Nacional de Hidrografia e Navigação. Re-established with Norwegian aid in 1989 it maintains a range of 41 nautical charts covering Mozambiquan coastal and inland waters.
Earth science mapping of Mozambique is carried out by Direcção Nacional de GeologÃa (DNGM), (formerly Instituto), in the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy. Geological coverage is available at 1:250,000 for over 90 percent of the country. This series was established by Portuguese authorities, and recent work is aimed at completing the 102 sheets. Progress in 1:100,000 and 1:50,000 scale geological series has mainly been achieved since independence. Over half of the country is now mapped at 1:100,000 scale and about a fifth is available at 1:50,000 scale. Geophysical and geochemical maps at these three scales are also available, and reconnaissance photo-geological coverage has been flown for the whole country. Several earth science themes are available at 1:1,000,000 and 1:2,000,000 scales, including a metallogenic sheet published in association with the South African Council for Geoscience, minerals mapping compiled with Portuguese assistance, and a new edition of the 1:1,000,000 scale tectonic map.
Instituto Nacional de Investigaçao Agronomica (INIA) is carrying out resource mapping using satellite imagery, which has included the publication of a 1:1,000,000 scale soil map issued for each of the 10 provinces, and the compilation of a new 1:250,000 scale national soil survey, starting with coverage of southern areas of the country.
The Direcção Nacional de Florestas e Fauna has also prepared a provincial 1:1,000,000 scale map using image interpretation, which provides an inventory of forest cover in the country. It has also prepared new 1:50,000 scale biomass mapping in 49 sheets covering the areas to the south of the Limpopu river.
Only limited commercially published mapping is available for Mozambique, notably the multilingual tourist map from Cartographia, and a recently published transport map from Cleveland Map Company. New Holland, and Institut Géographique National (IGN), Paris also publish general coverage of the country.
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